Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (March 31, 867 – September 22, 904), né Li Jie, name later changed to Li Min, yet later name changed to Li Ye, is the penultimate emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China.
He reigns from 888 to 904 (although he is briefly deposed by the eunuch Liu Jishu in 900 and restored in 901).
Zhaozong is the seventh son of Emperor Yizong of Tang and younger brother of Emperor Xizong of Tang.
During Emperor Zhaozong's reign, the Tang Dynasty falls into total disarray and rebellions, which had been ongoing since the reign of his older brother Emperor Xizong, break out throughout the country while the imperial government's authority effectively disappears.
In the midst of all this, Emperor Zhaozong tries to salvage the dying dynasty.
His efforts to reassert imperial power, however, generally backfire, as his unsuccessful campaigns against Li Keyong, Chen Jingxuan, and Li Maozhen, merely allow Li Keyong and Li Maozhen to reaffirm their power by prevailing over imperial forces, while Chen is merely conquered and replaced by Wang Jian.
Eventually, the major warlord Zhu Quanzhong seizes control of the imperial government and in 904 has Emperor Zhaozong killed as the prelude of taking over the Tang throne.
Zhu also kills many of Emperor Zhaozong's ministers, including the chancellor, Cui Yin.
Zhu then places Zhaozong's 13 year old son as a puppet emperor (as Emperor Ai).
(By 907, Zhu himself takes over the throne, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang Dynasty.)
